County Council Set to Slash Social Care Spending
The cabinet of East Sussex County Council (ESCC) wase due to meet on Thursday this week to discuss savings proposals on next year’s budget, which at present is predicted to result in a £55 million shortfall.
An internal financial report states that the council’s expected budget gap over the next three years to 2027/28 is £83.6m, “the most difficult financial outlook“ it has ever faced. The adverse figures are blamed upon the “substantial and growing gap between the costs of delivering essential services to meet the needs of East Sussex residents and the income we expect to have to fund [them] in future years”.
Cabinet members will be told that the council has already taken action to minimise day-to-day expenditure where possible, is carefully considering recruitment to vacant posts, and has reduced office space. With concerns that any delay would worsen the council’s financial position, further immediate proposals for savings totalling around £4m will focus on discretionary and non-statutory preventative services – both directly provided services and support services and back-office functions – and on income generation.
But as 48%of the total net budget is spent on adult social care, “significant savings will need to be found in this area”. Proposals presented in the report include the closure of two day services for older people and two day centres, community support services and Steps to Work training for people with learning disabilities. There are also proposals to halt on-site support in supported accommodation for vulnerable adults and adults with mental health needs, to significantly reduce funding for housing-related support services, and to decline to renew contracts for drug and alcohol recovery services.
Cabinet will also be asked to agree a public consultation on the introduction of a booking system for the council’s household waste recycling sites, a system already in place in neighbouring authorities.
GLAZIER CITES ‘GREATER NEEDS’
Council leader Keith Glazier told BBC Radio Sussex last week that the county has made £140m of savings since 2012, but commented that “the severity of people who come into social care now, their needs are much greater than they were years ago.”
He also said that East Sussex Council is transporting 5,000 children to and from school every day, which represents an overspend of around £4m on £28m already budgeted – most of it on increased numbers of children who have Special Educational Needs and Disabilities.
That compares with a total of £48m spent by the council on maintenance of roads, drains and pathways, though Cllr Glazier commented that the cost of fixing all of the roads in the county “to a standard we would all find acceptable” would be £300m.
The council has been lobbying Sir Keir Starmer’s government to record the “unsustainable situation faced by the county council, and the specific needs of East Sussex”.
A spokesperson for the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government (the ‘Levelling Up’ label was dropped in July) previously told the BBC that it would “get councils back on their feet by getting the basics right”.
The department said it would provide “more stability through multi-year funding settlements, end competitive bidding for pots of money, and reform the local audit system”. A draft financial statement was to be made “in December”.
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